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this is a stunning book of sequential art in which the only words are the epigraph and a quote from emerson at the end.

i was a little concerned with the epigraph, initially, because it's one of those goopy new age-y sounding statements full of abstractions but signifying nothing:

IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, ANIMALS NEITHER LOVE NOR HATE EACH OTHER.

LOVE AND HATE ARE PARTS OF A NATURAL WHOLE. A SUPREME BALANCE MANY CONSIDER TO BE UNIVERSAL, OR EVEN DIVINE. AN ELEMENTAL LOVE.

A LOVE THAT MANKIND COULD NEVER EXPERIENCE.

i'm not really sure how that's supposed to apply to this story, unless that's simply the mission statement for the series as a whole. in any event, it made me very glad that there are no words to the actual story, because the artwork speaks for itself. loudly. clearly.

"mankind" doesn't come into play at all - this isn't one of those "man is bad and nature suffers" messages. here, everything that happens is completely within the natural world. there are orcas, elephant seals, musk oxen, rabbits, polar bears, etc, and animals fight each other, hunt their prey, save their young, live and die while a volcano erupts sending burning lava and avalanches throughout their habitats.

the animals neither speak nor grieve - there are some close calls, but also many animals who get crushed, burned, eaten. there are no songs, none of the animals make dresses or play the banjo.

it's ragged, brutal survival. and the artwork is phenomenal

you can almost hear the bears roar

swat!

bearfight!

it's absolutely magnificent - beautiful and badass and realistic. i have already ordered the first book in this series; The Tiger and i await the third Le lion; being made available in my country.

and obviously, i will be buying this one in hard copy ASAP.

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oh my god, the ARTWORK

so beautiful. so badass.

full review TK, but just a heads-up that it's on netgalley right now -